Liav Koren hauls his creation onto a table and connects it to his laptop, taps a few buttons and suddenly the squared-off metal arch the size of a bar fridge springs to life.

With a mechanical hum, a nozzle affixed to a white metal bar begins slowly pouring out molten blue plastic as the platform beneath shifts back and forth, tracing the same path over and over again. Slowly, the shape of the letter “N” begins to rise from the platform as the machine pours layer after layer over the same imprint.

Known as the PandaBot, the prototype three-dimensional printer was built by Panda Robotics, a Toronto-based startup at which Mr. Koren serves as lead designer.

While 3D printers have existed for years inside research labs, home workshops and design studios — with price tags ranging well over $100,000 — companies like Panda Robotics are now looking to bring 3D printing technology to the masses, a seismic shift in computing that could change the way we think about manufacturing and consumer products.

The process of 3D printing involves taking a digital model of an object — which can either be a scan of an existing object, such as a coffee cup, or an original creation — which is then uploaded from a computer to a printer.

Then, just as an laser printer reproduces a document using ink on paper, a 3D printer uses melted plastic — poured in layers as thin as one-tenth of a millimetre — to recreate the digital object in the physical world. In the case of the PandaBot, the material being used is known as acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), which is the same plastic used to make most Lego building blocks.

Companies like Panda Robotics are hoping to cash in on what they believe is a trend that mirrors the PC revolution. Panda Robotics plans to launch a Kickstarter project on Thursday, hoping to secure $50,000 in support, offering those who pledge $800 or more their own PandaBot.

Last week, a similar project on Kickstarter, Form 1, topped more than $1-million in funding in a matter of days.

“We saw that the existing tools were hard to use and that nothing was really consumer-focused, so we’re here to make 3D printing accessible,” said Graeme Hein, product manager for Panda Robotics.

“We’re really playing through the whole 1970s personal computing revolution, with the same issues of large companies producing big and expensive machines, to the hobbyist culture developing and moving up into truly easy to afford products.”

As with any new technology, there is already plenty of controversy surrounding the consumer adoption of 3D printers.

Just as the technology necessary to create digital copies of music and movies and to transfer those copies over the Internet fundamentally changed the recording industry and Hollywood, consumer goods manufacturers may be on the verge of facing their own Napster moment, as 3D printers threaten to challenge our notions of copyright and patent law.

What happens to the value of goods when someone can download a digital schematic of a piece of Lego or a G.I. Joe figure and faithfully reproduce it using base materials in their own living room?

For Panda Robotics, Mr. Hein said he hopes that brands and designers will realize the power of the technology and begin licensing their creations, so that users can purchase schematics over the Internet and print their own official merchandise at home.

“With this technology, you can do mass customization, so it’s your face on the G.I. Joe,” he said. “You could have a custom fit Iron Man costume for Halloween, officially licensed by Marvel. Obviously there’s a lot of work to be done for those relationships, getting everything together. But just the power and the opportunities are amazing for existing brands to develop a deeper relationship with their customers.”

Exactly what users intend to do with their 3D printers could also have far reaching implications. This week, Stratasys, a U.S.-based maker of 3D printers created headlines after it revoked the lease of one of its machines from a project that was attempting to create a printable gun, arguing it did not want its products used for “illegal purposes.”